RUMOUR: Return of Start button... Win 8

Shinma

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Summary: Microsoft may be moving toward bringing back the Start Button and allowing users to boot straight to the desktop with its coming Windows 8.1 release later this year.

What if Microsoft relented and granted users who are lukewarm about Windows 8 two of their biggest requests: Allow those who want to boot straight to the desktop, and bring back the Start button with Windows Blue, a.k.a. Windows 8.1?

Though supposedly not part of the original plan for Blue, these two UI options are looking more likely.

Reports from a couple of different forums from this past weekend raised the possibility that Microsoft might be moving toward allowing users to skip booting into the Metro-Style Start menu and instead start their PCs in desktop mode...

SpywareDr

Member

... after examining the code in twinui.dll, there is a line that is "responsible for disabling the Start Screen" and after disabling or modifying the code it makes the system "go to the desktop automatically."

DanceMan

Procrastinating Member

Both MS with Win8 and Ubuntu with Unity have attempted to make a desktop that works across all devices, but they've infuriated those of us without touchscreens who want a conventional desktop that we're used to.

Latest move in this area is an initiative by Intel toward Android tablet/notebook devices. While many of Intel's moves of this type, such as Ultrabooks, have come a cropper, it's nevertheless significant.

DanceMan

Procrastinating Member

Not using any currently, just following the news. Tried a live cd boot via usb of Mint XFCE but it didn't pick up networking. Last I actually used was Suse/KDE several years ago. At that time I was surprised to find that both Ubuntu and Fedora had booting issues with a pretty standard AMD/Giga/WD Sata desktop setup. Had more linux booting issues recently with a dual core Atom desktop board. Two current distros stalled, but the 32-bit Mint XFCE did boot enough for me to read the connected hdd before I wiped it. In this case I suspect it may have been ACPI issues in the bios settings. Both were 64-bit distros and I'd left the bios at defaults. I know there are a lot of IT guys using linux on their own gear, including laptops, but I haven't picked up any particular consensus on either a distro or a desktop.